Mail carrier



H. w. ANTHOLZ.

MAIL CARRIER. APPLICATION FILED FEB-[4.1921.

1 194,679. Patented Jan. 24, 1922..

2 SHEETSSHEET 1- INVENTOR H. W. ANTHOLZ.

MAIL CARRIER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.14. 1921.

1 ,404,679, Patented Jan. 24, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVENTOR depend upon the number'ot stations in the s ria arena mete MAILnann es.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patefii'tgd Jan, 241. 11922,

Application filed February l t-{192 1. Serial No. 444,732.

ToaZZw/zomz't may camera." 7

Be it known that I, HENRY IV. ANTHOLZ, a citizen of the United States,residing at McDonald, in the county of Rollins and State of Kansas, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Il/IailCarriers; and Ido declare the following toibe a full,

clear, and exact description of the invention,

such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form apart of this specification.

This invention relatesto aerial railways in which a superposedtracksupports a car or cars adapted to carry merchandise, mail and the like.i i i The invention is particularly applicable for use in connectionwith rural tree deliv ery routes in which a circuitous track isprovided, over which'may travel one or more cars from a central station,to be returned to the central'station after making the circuit. i

At suitable intervals in the circuit will be provided stationsrepresenting the points of delivery and collectiom it beingpossible toautomatically release a car ata designated point and pick up another caror proceed without picking up another car until another station has beenreached, whereupon a second car may be automatically detached until allthe cars in the train have been released. The number of cars in thetrain propelled by the motorcar' or pilot car will circuit and certainmechanism on each drawn car can beset/to cause that particular car to bereleased at a particular station.

The specific details of construction embodied/in thepreferred form of myinvention will be described hereinafter, itbeing understood that changesin form, proportion and minor details ofconstruction may be resortedtowithout departing "from the spirit of the invention or sacrificing anyof its advantages.

In'the drawings,

Fig. 1 is *a perspective View or" a pilot car and one trailer, part ofthe trailer being broken away to show the settingi'inechanisni therein.

v,Fig. 2 is a vertical, longitudinal, sectional view through the pilotcar and one trailer.

Fig. 3 is a detail perspectiveview of the coupling release, and I l Fig.l is a side elevational view on a reduced scale of a pilot car and aplurality oftrailers. f I I In carrying outmy inventionI prefer toprovide a plurality of posts 1, provided wit-l base members 2 for thetrack frame at the top thereof, the base members 2 having upstandingbracket arms 3 and l. The number of posts and bracket arms will dependupon the number required to .maintain the aerial rails or wires 5comparatively taut,

the rails or wires 5 being fastened to the upper endsot the bracket arms3 and 4 in any well known manner.

The bracket arms at the stations where trailers are to detachedarepreferably connected with yielding or spring braking strips 6, adaptedto bear against wear plates or braking strips on the trailers, will beexplained hereinafter. The posts l at the stationshave upwardlyextendingand laterally curved trip arms 7, the curved portions 8 of which come incontact with the pivoted levers. on the settin mechanism or the 3 t l vtrallers, to be presently oescribedh I V It isapparentthatthe posts Willbe arranged 111 parallel so that there will he parallel rails 5 tosupportthe pilot car and trailers on opposite sides, as clearly showninFig. 1. i

a The pilot'car may consist of a rectangular hollow member 9, havingoverhanging edges 10, beneath which aretractionwheels 11 on oppositesides of thecar on shafts 12 and 13. The shafts Band 13 extend through athe'sidewalls of the car to support thc trac tion wheels or pulleysjonthe ends thereof? and which wheels or' pulleys ride ou the rails 5 5. a

The forward grooved traction wheels 11 on shaft 13 are idlers whilethose on the shaft 12 are driven through a gearing from a motor 14. Themotor lt'rna-y be an electric motor if desired and may. be energizedeitherby a trolley or through a. storage battery 15. The gear 16 on themotor drives a gear 17on, a shaft 18,, which, in turn,carries apinionzltl, meshing with the gear 20 on shaft 12 so that shaft/12 willbe positively driven. Therefore, when the motor 14 is cut in the circuitand receives its energy, the pilot car or motor car will be driven overthe track formed by the rails 55. Access may be had to the interior ofthe car 9 by the hinged door 21.

On the forward end of the motor car is a bumper 22, corresponding to thebumper 23 on a trailer 24, the bumper having a shock transmitting member24, pressed out by a gpring 25, as will be seen by reference to lg.

Projecting from the rear of the pilot car 9 are two parallel arms 26,between which is pivoted a coupling hookor member 27, adapted to engageone of the bars 28 of a squirrel cage complementary coupling member 29,mounted in bearings in the frame 30 and having a ratchet 31 rigidtherewith. The frame 30 carries an elbow-shaped ratchet consisting of apawl 32 and an upstanding arm 32. The pawl 32 engages in the teeth ofthe ratchet 31 and the arm 32' is adapted to be tripped by a pin orprojection 33 on the wheel 34, mounted onthc shaft 35 in the frame 30.The toothed wheel 34 is loose on shaft 35 and it can be disengaged fromthe shaft through the medium of the pawl 36 and ratchet 37 so that thepin 33 will have any predetermined relative position with respect to thearm 32; i

The 'wheel 34 is provided with a coil spring 38, which will restore itto its normal position each time it is swung in a rota-tive movement tobring the pin 33 into contact with the arm 32'. The swinging movement iseffected by a yielding lever 39, mounted in frame 30 and having a dog 40to engage with the teeth 41 on the wheel 34. The normal upright positionof the lever 39 is maintained by a yielding flat spring 42, so that theupper end 43 of the lever '39 will nor:- mally be in a vertical positionthrough the slot 44. 7

If the pilot car is to pass from'the cen tral station to a plurality ofsubstations or delivery stations, the train, consisting of as manytrailers as there are stations to receive mail, will be started over thetrack. When the train passes the first station for which the settingmechanism in the trailer has been set, the upstanding portion 43 of thelever 39 will strike against the curved portion 8 of the arm 7. At thesame time the wear plate or braking surface 45 will contact with thespring strip 6. The lever 39 will be thrown rearwardly so as to rotatethe wheel 34 the required distance, for example, one notch, Since thewheel 34 in the first car, which will be the last car in the train, willhave its pin 33 setnear'to the arm 32, said pin'will come into contactwith 7 arm 32, throwing the pawl32 out of engagement with the ratchet 31so that the squirrel cage coupling member 28 will be throws of the wheel34 must be made before 7 the pin 33 will contact with 32. The releasingmechanism in the third car, then the 7 last car, will be set so thatthree throws of the wheel 34 must take place before the car can bereleased and so on up to the total number of cars.

The pilot car ormotor car may have a bumper 22 to strike against anyemptywhich is ahead of it so that it will push the empty along the trackto return it to the central station and if desired, the frontof thepilot car may have a squirrel cage coupling member 28, corresponding tothe one on the front of the trailer except it will remain stationary .sothat it may engage with a complementary coupling member 27 011 the carwhich it is pushing and thereby couple up the cars on the front of thepilot car as well as the rear. 7

It will be apparent that when the train initially starts out, it willautomatically proceed under its own power until it comes to the firststation, where it will drop a car. Then it will proceed to the secondstation, where it will drop the second car, etc.', until all of the carsin the train have been dropped. The consignee may then remove the mailmatter or other material in the car, leaving it on thetrack,

After the pilot car has made the circuit, it may start outwith a newtrain, having the selected mechanisms in the trailers set for theirparticular stations. On the second round, the train will drop the firstcar which, of course, will be the last one in the train, and pick up thepreviously dropped car at that station. When the train reaches thesecond station, the second car then the last one in the train, will bedropped and 'another empty will beipicked up in front of the train, thetrainproceeding until all of the loaded cars have beendropped at theirrespective stations and empties returned by the pilot car, which finallywill be the last car in the train.

Of course, it is to be understood that the trailers are supported on thetrolley, tracks or rails by idler wheels 46. V 7

It will be apparent that the device is entirely automatic and thatthecars may be successively dropped and empties picked up while thepilot .car is making the circuit covered by its tracks.

My invention particularly lends itself for use for mail delivery butobviously it may also be designed for carrying merchandise if desired.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an aerial railway system, an aerial track, a pilot car movableover the track, a trailer having a squirrel cage coupling member, acomplementary coupling member on the pilot car engaging one of thelongitudinal bars of the squirrel cage coupling memher, a pawl normallyholding the squirrel cage coupling member against rotation, and meansfor releasing the .pawl from engagement with the squirrel cage member topermit the cars to become uncoupled.

2. In an aerial railway system, a pilot car, means for operating it, anaerial railway over which the car moves, a trailer, a rotatable couplingmember on thetrailer, a pivoted hook coupling member on the pilot carengaging the rotatable coupling member, means for normally holding therotatable member against rotation, whereby the two cars will be coupled,and means for releasing said first named means to permit the rotatablecoupling member to rotate the outer coupling engagement with the hook. v

3. In an aerial railway system, a pilot car, means for operating it, anaerial railway over which the car moves, a trailer, a rotatable couplingmember on the trailer, a pivoted hook coupling member on the pilotcarengaging the rotatable coupling member, means for normally holding therotatable member against rotation, whereby the two cars will be coupled,means for releasing said first named means to permit the rotatablecoupling member to rotate the outer coupling engagement with the hook,said means comprising an upstanding lever projecting through the top ofthe trailer and adapted to contact with the tripping arm above thetrack, and a ratchet actuated pin controlled car movable over saidtrack, a trailer adapt.

ed to be connected to the pilot car, a coupling for effecting theconnection comprising a hook member on the pilot car, a rotatablecoupling member of squirrel cage form in the trailer to be engaged bythehook shaped member, an elbow shaped dog having a pawl to engage withthe ratchet on the rotatable coupling member and provided with an upstanding arm, a rotatable ratchet wheel having a pin movable intoengagement with the upstanding arm to throw the pawl out of engagementwith the ratchet wheel, an arm for actuating said wheel, said armextending through the roof of the trailer, and an obstruction in thepath of movement of the arm where y said arm may be swung intofunctional position.

5. In an aerial railway, a track, a pilot car movable over said track, atrailer adapted to be connected to the'pilot car, a coupling foreffecting the connection comprismg a hook member on the pilot car, arotatable coupling member of squirrel cage form in the trailer to beengaged by the hook.

shaped member, an elbow shaped dog having a pawl to engage with theratchet on the rotatable coupling'memberand provided with an upstandingarm, a rotatable ratchet wheel having a pin movable into engagement withthe upstanding arm to throw the pawl out of engagement with the ratchetwheel, an arm for actuating said wheel, said arm extending through theroof of the trailer, an obstruction in the pathof movement of the armwhereby said arm may be swung into functional position, and a spring forrestoring the arm to, normal position after it has functioned. o

In testimony whereof I afix my signature.

HENRY w. ANTHOLZ.

